The first Post-Impressionists, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Cezanne and Toulouse Lautrec, sought new ways to revitalize Western Art. Rejecting the Impressionist thinking of Renoir and Monet, they felt that art should not only mirror nature through design and color, but also that canvas and paint should be an outward expression of the inner workings of the artist and, therefore, a work of art in its own right.